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The game developers has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends players, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a burst of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. According to key developer the design lead, this technique has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these advanced speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to activate the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to play for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

Why make a once niche technique accessible to all players? Principal designer the development lead says developers aims for gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide some of this power to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since currently, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to use — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we create a polished implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel users upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. However it's aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements now, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as stronger, faster, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states character developer the designer. "Certainly she was dominant previously, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead notes Respawn assessed each of her abilities and introduced significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling her to remain longer aloft. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches teammates into the air for redeployment or escape — now takes reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that players can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn state Apex Legends Season 27 is all about providing gamers the resources they need to keep up with matches.

"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer the lead.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at the specified times.